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NEWS > Alumnae News > Find a New Hobby for 2025

Find a New Hobby for 2025

As part of a self-improvement special last week, The Guardian ran a piece about hobbies, penned by our very own social prescribing expert and Professor of Psychobiology Daisy Fancourt, Class of 2008.

Daisy, who was the Guest of Honour at LEH’s Celebration of the Year last year, is Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at University College London. Her research focuses on the effects of social factors on health, including loneliness, social isolation, community assets, arts and cultural engagement, and social prescribing.  

To help readers find the perfect new hobby for the new year, she advised them to spend some time thinking about what they want to get out of future activities, whether that’s a sense of purpose, or a feeling of exhilaration. Inspiration can often be found by thinking back to childhood passions.

And it’s worth exploring what essential needs in your life aren’t currently being met, to see if your hobbies can balance out what you already get from parenting or working, for example, if you’ve got a sedentary job, you might want to take up an active hobby.

You should ask yourself what would challenge you a little, how could you step just outside your comfort zone to find something of “moderate novelty”. She explains: “Moderate novelty hobbies tend to give you the biggest heavy rushes of excitement and feelings of mastery and accomplishment.”

To see the full story, please visit The Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jan/07/questions-to-ask-yourself-to-find-a-new-hobby

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